Archive for June 2011

We celebrated Jhanderly´s 12th birthday at Club today. Thanks to her sponsor, Rosemarie, for the idea and a donation to make it happen. It was a sweet time to remember her sweet attitude and shed tears in missing her. Her family came and heard the Good News: Jhanderly is in Heaven and they will see her again, if they know Jesus as their Savior. We had a meal and cake (Vasti made the 3 cakes), sang Happy Birthday to her, and said, “Jhanderly, we will miss you and we will always remember you and we will see you some day in Heaven.”

I am posting her last letter; it´s to her sponsor. In reading my translation, you might get chills as it seems she had a premonition of her death. Regardless if she did or not, she left us a lesson to be remembered: love others, as you never know when you will be separated from them.

Here´s her letter:

Dear Rosemarie,

Thank you for the precious gifts that I received from you. I like them a lot as does my family, especially the horse paint-by-number. I hope you are enjoying your days with people you love. It doesn´t matter WHAT you have rather WHO you have in your life, because it´s true that we don´t know what we have until we lose it. We often discover that we often take for granted the people most important to us, so that´s why we should always care more about people than things, and we should tell those whom we love how special they are because we are never sure when we have to leave. Your friend, Jhanderly

Denise´s and Tim´s time with us was a blessing. They gave Josué and family Louisville T-shirts, which we wore on our family outing to the zoo/beach Thursday.We ate juane (a speciality for the San Juan festival–rice and chicken wrapped in a leaf). We celebrated Denise´s adopted child Barbara´s birthday. We went on a river tour. It was a nice week.

My stepmom and nephew arrived Saturday morning. They participated in the Saturday activity and then took Josué and me out to eat. Sunday they enjoyed Club, where the kids presented choreographies and poems for Father´s Day. I took Josué and gang out for lunch at a special fish restaurant. Tim enjoyed driving our motorcycle, as the restaurant was on a road with less traffic. (Josué rode behind him, and Denise, Joela, and I went in the motorcar. He did great, Tim´s Mom—don´t worry!) We then went to Josue´s aunts where Tim picked coconuts and we drank the milk.

Joela made Josué a card (feet imprint) and gave him flowers and a balloon for his special day. He is a great dad and I am grateful for how he cares for Joela and how we work together in rearing her.

Sunday afternoon, Denise took us out for ice cream in Josué´s honor. In the evening, we attended church, which was focused on Father´s Day, with the same choreographies by the kids and a snack. Denise and Tim greeted the church family and were given a warm reception.

The Saturday afternoon activity went really well. The kids painted with different colors, and they did better than I expected in not mixing the colors in the containers and being patient to let one color dry before adding another. The little kids’ table was the most obedient, and everyone was really creative. The snack was tamales, a typical food made from corn and peanuts.

Later in the week, Denise, Mama Luz, and Nicole helped me add antennae (fishing wire) and hooks and spray paint the butterflies transparent. They turned out beautiful.

The first photo is Jhanderly receiving a gift from her supporter, the second of her making the colored bottle craft, third the art drawing contest, fourth choreography 2 weeks ago (she´s in orange shirt). The others are of her funeral (a service at our church, at her home, and at the cemetery).

Jhanderly: we all miss you a lot; you will always have a special place in our hearts–until tomorrow, in Heaven!